


might as well be strangers

by poalimal



Series: Kids.mp3 [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Coming Out, Gen, Tense Shift
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2016-10-09
Packaged: 2018-08-19 12:38:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8208311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poalimal/pseuds/poalimal
Summary: His parents are getting divorced, all of his best friends are either dating each other or ignoring him, and Thor Odinson's quit the football team - yea, Sam's senior year is nothing like he thought it'd be.





	1. Chapter 1

 

The morning after Sam's dad moves out, Steve and Misty are in their world apart, Bucky's scowling like the world bit him on the ass, and Sam is way too tired and sad to be able to deal with any of them. He stomps to the back of the bus, shoves in next to a fellow undesirable, yanks down his hood, and soon falls asleep.

Seconds later - or what feels like seconds later - he jolts awake. Hm, no, someone's hand is on his shoulder - someone woke him up. Sam peels back his hood, the hand is removed, the sunshine is everywhere - and it's Thor. He's sitting next to Thor.

'--Hello,' Sam says, dumbly, once he's got his daily allotted 15-second stare in. It's possible he's still half-asleep.

'Hello,' says Thor, very politely. 'Sorry to wake you, just--we're almost at school.'

'No problem,' Sam says, a little blankly, stifling a stubborn little yawn. Sam didn't fall asleep on him, did he? 'Listen, I didn't--fall asleep on you, did I?'

Thor shrugs his massive shoulders. 'I don't mind,' he says, not looking at him directly. Thor doesn't really look at anyone directly anymore. 

The bus pulls into the bay at the front of the school with the sounds of everyone waking up, hurriedly shoving their homework into their backpacks, chattering about tests and quizzes and bullshit. Sam sees Steve stand in anticipation of the bus stopping. He sees the top of Misty's bun over the seat going up and down as she talks to Steve. From here he can't see Bucky at all.

He takes in a long deep breath to steady himself - then says, 'My parents are getting divorced.' Which is not what he'd planned to say at all.

Thor looks up and at him, startled; doesn't respond. Around them everyone is getting up, crowding the aisles, getting ready to get off the bus - but Thor is just staring at him.

Sam wishes he hadn't said anything. What do you even say to something like that?

'I'm gay,' Thor says.

Oh. Well. That'll do.

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

 

'Hey, you're coming tonight, right?

Hello?

Earth to S--a--m. Is there anybody in there?

...Sam!'

Sam blinks. Right. He has to go pick up Sarah and Gideon. 'I can hear you,' he says, gradually.

Bucky's looking at him closely. '--Everything ok, Sam?'

That's all it takes to get Sam moving again. 'I'm fine,' he says, shrugging on his backpack and making for the classroom door. They're the last ones out into the hallway. Except for Maurice, of course, but he's a kissass. 'Might not make it tonight though, Buck, sorry. Gotta go.'

'Oh, what!' Bucky huffs, slowing down. 'First Misty, now you, too? Does _nobody_ understand the meaning of tradition?'

'Chill out, Tevye,' Sam grouses. Bucky patiently slugs him in the arm.

'Fuck off, goy,' he says. 'Are you coming tonight or what?'

'Or what,' Sam says. Bucky stops at his locker, frowning hard after Sam. 'Listen,' Sam says, still walking, 'I'll make it up to you, ok?'

'Yea, you better!' Bucky says. 'Jerk!' Sam tosses back a wave and a grin. The expression feels fake on his face - or at least it's faded easily enough by the time he's turned three corners down to get to his locker.

Thor's there.

Sam hadn't thought he would've even known where his locker was. They don't have any classes in common this year. Or friends. Or anything, really.

God, he is a big dude. It was easy enough for Sam to forget when he was drooling all over his shoulder - less so when Thor's standing two-heads-taller than Sam even with him bent down over his phone.

Sam slows his steps, pulls his backpack forward a little by the straps.

'...Hey,' he says.

Thor looks up, slides his phone away, stands up straight. 'Hey,' he says. He looks a lot better than he did this morning. Less tired, maybe. And yet there's something about his expression that makes Sam think-- that makes him think--

Enough thinking. 'I gotta go pick up my brother and sister,' Sam says. Thor seems to sag, just slightly, into himself. 'You wanna come with?'

Thor glances back up from the ground at him, tilts his head; shrug-nods. 'Yea. Ok.'

 

* * *

 

'Who are _you_ ,' Gideon says, upon clambering into the car. Mama despairs of ever teaching him any kind of manners.

'I'm Thor,' says Thor. 'And who are you?'

'Well, I'm Gideon!' says Gideon.

'Hey, Sam!' says Sarah, climbing in after Gideon. Her eyes widen at the sight of Thor. 'Whoa. Who're _you_.' Sam stifles a smile.

'That's Thor,' says Gideon, helpfully.

'Nuh-uh,' says Sarah, peering at the Thor in question. 'That's not a real name. You made that up.'

'Well, somebody did make it up,' says Thor. 'Just like somebody made up your name, too.'

'No way! Sarah's, like, a normal person name,' says Sarah. Normal person name? Really? Where's she learning this shit?

But Thor's already agreeing: 'Y'know, you're right - Sarah _is_ a very normal name. I almost wish _my_ name was Sarah.' He sighs and pretends to look sad. Sarah looks a little confused.

'It's ok, Thor, I'll call you Sarah,' says Gideon, leaning forward to pat Thor consolingly on the shoulder.

'Well, if he's Sarah, then who am I?' says Sarah, grinning a little.

Gideon pauses to consider this. 'Sarah-2,' he decides eventually, leaning sideways to pat Sarah consolingly on the shoulder.

'Sarah-2!' Sarah says, squawk-laughing. 'I should be Sarah-1.'

Gideon pauses to consider this, too. 'Well, ok,' he concedes, as if he is doing her a great favour, 'I guess you can be Sarah-1.'

'Ok, then,' says Sam, because Sarah and Gideon can really go on forever once they get started. 'Everybody buckled in? Sarah-1, Sarah-2? Am I forgetting anyone?'

Thor has-- well, Thor had a little brother, so he gets it pretty immediately. 'Nope,' he says cheerily, 'I think that's everybody.'

'All present and accountant for!' Sarah adds.

'Waaait,' Gideon cries out, fumbling with his seatbelt. 'You forgot about meee, Sam, I'm here, too!'

Sam leans around back to look at his little brother in feigned surprise. 'Oh, hey, Gideon! I didn't know you were back there,' he says. 'You didn't say hi, I guess I just figured--'

Gideon lets his seatbelt snap back up, wriggles forward out of his booster seat, and awkwardly throws his arms around Sam and his seat.

'Hi, Sam,' he mumbles.

Sam reaches up and pats Gideon's arms with his own right hand. 'Hey, li'l dude,' he says, softly. Is he smiling? He can't feel what his face is doing. 'Alright, that's enough of that - siddown and buckle up. This car ain gone drive itself.'

 

* * *

 

Gideon takes one look at the driveway, sees the big old blue bike there, shouts, 'MI-I-I-I-I-I-I-ISTYYYY,' and goes running into the garage.

Sarah pauses, though, and turns to Sam with a frown. 'Daddy's not home yet? I thought he went to work early.'

Sam shrugs, ducks back into the car to dig for something imaginary he dropped. 'Dunno,' he says, face hot and prickly.

For a moment (the first in a long time) he actually wishes Thor weren't there. There's just something really weird and awful about lying to his little sister where someone else can see it, and know it for what it is.

He wishes he didn't have to lie. He wishes he didn't know all alone - he wishes he didn't know at all.

'Sam.' Sam blinks. Thor's staring at him, kind of-- looming, a bit. His face is the kindest Sam's ever seen it. 'Are we gonna-- are we gonna go in?'

Sam stares at him blankly. Are they gonna-- 'Oh!' he says, standing up straight. 'Right, oh yea, I'm so sorry, I'm so rude, yea, please, let's go--'

''Cus if you've got stuff to, my, I don't mind!, my driver can always come--' Thor says, right along with him. Right. Sam forgot Thor's parents are, like. Richer than White Jesus. Why he rides the bus in the mornings is beyond Sam.

'--no, no, I invited you--' Sam slams the door shut, locks the car, slings his backpack awkwardly over his right shoulder '--so let's go.' Glancing around, he figures Sarah must've gone on in while he was all zoned out. He's gotta stop doing that.

Thor's face dips into a grin, quick, before it pulls back out smooth again. 'After you, then,' he says.

Sam's not certain, but he's pretty sure Thor's being a smartass somehow. Just to be safe, he lightly hip-checks Thor when he passes him.

Clearly the king of escalation, Thor tugs on the back of Sam's backpack, yanking Sam backwards so abruptly that the back of his left shoe catches on the ground between the street and the asphalt, and he almost trips and falls backwards on his ass. Woulda have been a great end to a great day.

But then Thor kind of-- catches him with his entire body. Like...? Like it's nothing.

For maybe 5 seconds Sam's got a big strange body pressed up against his, and he's got no idea what to say or do about it. Laugh, maybe. That's probably a good reaction.

Thor unfreezes by degrees 'till he no longer feels like a particularly warm-blooded mannequin. 'Sorry,' he murmurs. Sam feels the words in his belly, up his entire spine. He says nothing. He makes it easy for Thor to set him upright and turn him around; doesn't fight him or make a fuss.

Thor's making a small tight face. 'Sorry,' he says again, dusting Sam's shoulders off with his hands. Like, what? Friggin weirdo. 'It was-- I was joking.'

'It's ok,' Sam says, distracted, looking down at the hands on him. The big knuckles, bruised and sort of broken-looking. 'Clearly you're used to throwing your weight around.'

He's just kidding, he doesn't really mean anything by it - but Thor's face does something so small that the only reason Sam catches it is because he happens to look up at the right moment.

He lets himself realise: they aren't friends, or close - and what he said hurt Thor. What he says can hurt him.

'Let's call it even,' Sam says eventually, 'my bad joke for yours?'

'Oh, sure, ok,' says Thor, clearly relieved. 'Sorry again. I didn't mean to--yank you around. I'm not--I'll be more careful.' As if Sam's made of glass!

'Nah, yank away, man,' Sam says, flicking him on the shoulder. Hard. Thor winces, smiles kind of lopsided.

Like this, with him atop the curb and Thor flat on the street, they're almost of a height. Ok. Well. Not _really_. But Sam can more clearly look at Thor at eye level, least.

He steps from the curb to the slope of the driveway, shrugs his backpack back on. 'So,' he says, 'how you feel about Fruit Rollup?'

Thor follows beside him, tilting his head to consider the question seriously. 'It's ok,' he says. 'A little sweet for my tastes.'

'Y'know, I appreciate your honesty, Thor, thank you,' says Sam, sidestepping Misty's bike and waving Thor into the garage. The automatic light flicks on, guides him to the little wooden stairs, where he hits the white switch to close the garage door. He waits until it's shut before speaking again. 'But how you feel about Fruit Rollup's off-brand cousin, Fruit Leather Roll-o's?'

Thor shrugs his shoulders, grins so-so all sweet. Shit, this _guy_. 'Uhh, I dunno,' he says. 'But I get the feeling I'm going to find out today?'

'Ye-a-a, buddy,' says Sam, toeing off his shoes on the other side of the house door, next to a basket of folded laundry. He can hear the TV on in the living room: Misty, he figures. 'Life's all about living - and living's all about Fruit Leather Roll-o's.'

'I don't know, Sam,' says Thor seriously, mimicking his actions, 'you're really hyping these Leather-O's--'

'Dude,' Sam says, aghast, pausing on the step up into the kitchen, ' _Leather-O's_?'

Thor blinks at him innocently. 'Is that not what they're called?' _This_ guy!

'No, that's not what they're--' Sam looks around at the empty kitchen, where Sarah and Gideon's barely eaten snacks await him. 'Sarah! Gideon!'

The sound of the TV goes suspiciously quiet. Sarah skips into the kitchen, oversmiling. 'Hi hey hello,' she says, out of breath, 'I just went-- I had to go wash my hands.' She hoists herself up onto the stool. 'And now I'm gonna finish--um, eating my snack!' She takes a big appreciative bite out of a carrot. 'Y-u-m.'

She ain't slick. Sam illustrates this fact with his face. Sarah grins winningly at him. Man, she's lucky she's adorable.

Gideon comes in the kitchen much more slowly, attached as he is to the back of Sam's oldest friend. 'Sam,' he whines, 'I'm not hungry.'

Unlike Cast-Iron Stomach Sarah, Gideon has about a thousand allergies and intolerances and the world's tiniest appetite. The trick in getting him to eat anything is to make it seem like a happy, low-stakes event.

'That's fine,' says Sam, leaning against the counter next to Sarah. 'Thor and I will eat your snack.' He hands a red pepper slice to Thor. Thor blinks, looks uncertainly at him, then carefully eats the slice straight from his fingers. Sam's heart trip-thuds; he throws his head back and laughs. 'Dude! You can take it from my hand.' Thor goes pink. Sam laughs some more.

Misty is giving him a look. Sam returns it, with interest. '--Heyyyy, girl,' he says, after some good ol' sustained eye contact.

'Heyyy, Sam,' Misty replies, wry, hoisting Gideon back up when he starts to slip. Then, much more restrained: 'Hey, Thor.'

'Um, hey, Misty,' Thor says, addressing the countertops. Misty takes this in, then gives Sam another look. _What's going on here?_

Sam shakes his head slightly: they'll talk about it later. 'You want in on this snack action, Mist?'

Misty places Gideon down on the stool on the other side of Sarah, leans over him to peer down at his snack. 'Hmm - what're the cracker-thingies?'

'They're buckwheat!' Gideon pipes up. 'They're--' here he looks uncertain '--they're good.'

'Ooh,' Misty says, 'dibs on the cracker-thingies, then.' And she reaches over Sarah and Gideon's heads to pick up a cracker.

'I think I like the yellow bell peppers best,' Sam remarks, 'very subtle flavour.'

'I prefer green,' Thor offers.

'Blgh,' says Misty, completely missing the point of this exercise. 'I mean,' she auto-corrects, seeing Sam's face, ' _mmm_. De-licious.'

'I don't mind about the taste,' Thor says, almost apologetically, 'I just like the colour.'

'Green is a good colour,' Sarah agrees. She plucks a green pepper slice from Gideon's snack, too.

At that, Gideon leans back a little against Misty's tummy and says, all quiet, ''Scuse me, Sam?'

Sam pretends to be enraptured by a buckwheat cracker. 'Mm, oh, wow, that is good. Oh, sorry - did you say something, G?'

'I think I am a little hungry now, maybe,' Gideon says, shy.

Finally - Sam cannot _stand_ buckwheat. Still, can't let a kid know they've been played. 'Well, what do you say, guys?' says Sam. 'You still hungry?'

'Oh, I'm stuffed,' says Thor, smiling winningly at Gideon. He pronounces his F's very softly - Sam never noticed before. Very even teeth, too - though that was something Sam clocked the minute he turned 13. 'Couldn't eat another bite.'

'I don't know, G,' Misty's chewing noisily, 'I really like these cracker-thingies. You promise you want 'em? Like really want 'em?'

'Oh, I promise,' Gideon says, very seriously.

'Well, oh-kay,' Misty says, leaning her chin atop Gideon's head until he giggles and twists his away. 'I guess you can have 'em back.'

'Ok, then, Gideon,' says Sam, sliding to him the remains of the bell peppers and crackers, 'that's all you. When the two of you are done--'

'Clean up after yourselves, wash your hands, and do your homework,' Sarah and Gideon chorus. Sarah adds, 'We know, Sam.'

'Alright, well, I'm glad you know,' says Sam. 'I hope I don't hear any more of the TV, then.'

Sarah rolls her eyes. Sam rolls his back, says, 'You're in charge, ok? We'll be upstairs in my room. Door open. If you need anything, shout up.'

'Ok, Sam,' Sarah and Gideon chime. Sam drops a kiss on both of their foreheads, goes back down into the laundry room to grab his backpack and Thor's, heads out the kitchen and for the main stairs, where Thor is already following Misty up. 'You staying for dinner, Mist?'

'If it's ok,' Misty shrugs. 'You know Bucky's pissed you're not going tonight, right.' She reaches his room first, flicks on the lights, sprawls out on his bed with a sigh. Thor goes for the computer seat.

'You know he's pissed _you're_ not going, right,' Sam says, sitting down beside her. Misty sulks up at him.

'Bucky's not allowed to be pissed at me,' she says. 'He's also not allowed to talk to me like a normal human being.'

Y-e-a, Sam's not touching any of _that_ with a 10 ft pole. 'You wanna stay for dinner, Thor?' he says instead.

Thor looks up from the innards of his backpack with an intensely casual air. 'Oh,' he says, 'well, if it's not too much trouble...'

'If it's not too much trouble, then what,' Misty says, giving him a hard time.

Thor draws himself up a little, looking at them both. Well, oh-kay, then. 'If it's not too much trouble, then, yes, I would like to stay for dinner,' he says, defiant somehow. He deflates somewhat when Sam and Misty crack up laughing at him, even offers up a rueful smile of his own in return.

'--I would be happy to stay, Sam,' he says, all earnest and open-eyed and shit. Sam's laughter dies in his throat. 'Really. Thank you.'

Sam looks away before he gets stuck staring. 'No prob,' he mumbles. Man - this guy.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> up next: thor finally gets his fruit leather roll-o's; the gang washes their hands; sam solves the mystery of how he had a car in the afternoon despite taking the bus to school

**Author's Note:**

> Title subject to change, as I abhor it.


End file.
